New Hampshire

Innovations

A hospital uses round-the-clock pulse oximetry monitoring to identify patients who exhibit early signs of deterioration and automatically notify their nurse, leading to reductions in rescue events and transfers to the intensive care unit.

Decision aids and one-on-one counseling sessions help newly diagnosed breast cancer patients evaluate their treatment options and preferences before the initial surgeon visit, leading to high levels of patient satisfaction and knowledge, less conflict about and greater comfort with decisions made, many changes in treatment preferences, and better patient–surgeon interactions.

A multifaceted program in a rural, community hospital reduced mean decision-to-incision time for emergency cesarean deliveries and increased adherence to guidelines that recommend that such deliveries begin in less than 30 minutes.

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic assigned health coaches to high-risk chronic disease patients to provide instruction regarding health care needs over the phone, during office visits, and in group classes; the program reduced readmission rates and costs among elderly patients.